How the Dragonfly Lost Her Wings
by BlakeEllenJ
Summary: Melissa Grimes is the newest member of The Justice League and on one mission against The Joker her life changes forever. Will she risk everything for the love of this psychopath?
1. Chapter 1

I fell inlove with a murderer and a psychopath. And yet that did not make me love him any less. I am madly in love with The Joker. Yes, The Joker. The terrorizer of Gotham City, arch nemesis to Batman. And I had started out so good.

We met on only my third mission with The Justice League. People say that the only reason I got in was because I was dating Superman but honestly I'm pretty kick ass. My name is Melissa Grimes, but I'm known better as Dragonfly, newest member of The Justice League. The day I met the love of my life started out as any normal day on The Watchtower. J'onn was watching the monitors, Clark and Batman were bickering about something or other, Hawkgirl and John were flirting and Wally and I were having an eating contest.

"You're going down!" He shouted through mouthfuls of sausage pizza.

"In your dreams!" I responded laughing. Wally and I had grown up together and I was still the only one who could match his enormous appetite.

"Could you two grow up?" Batman stopped his arguing with Clark to yell at me and Wally.

"Calm down Batsy we're just having fun!" Wally said after swallowing the last of his pizza.

"Well maybe you should stop having fun and make yourselves useful." Batman growled. Then with a swish of his cape, he stormed off. I walked over to Clark and hooked my arm in his.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" I muttered. The awkward silence that followed made it clear that he did not find it as funny as I did. Every time I made a joke at his expense, Clark wouldn't laugh. It was weird.

"He's having a rough day." He said seriously. When he wasn't looking, I rolled my eyes.

"Bad news from Gotham City." J'onn said floating down from the monitor station just in time to save me from my awkward situation. Saved by a crisis.

"What's going on?" Clark said immediately switching to Superman mode.

"The Joker and Harley Quinn have escaped from Arkham Asylum."

"Isn't he Batman's pain in the ass?" Hawkgirl asked angrily.

"Anything that's his problem is our problem." Clark growled. Hawkgirl backed off, raising her hands in an "I surrender" motion. As hard as it is to see to outsiders, anyone who knew Clark knew that he cared for the Dark Knight. He was very protective of him. It was one of the things I liked about him. He loved his team.

"Speaking of Batman," John questioned moving closer to Hawkgirl, "where did he go?"

"He stormed off after yelling at me and Mel." Wally said not moving from the table with the pizza. He was still finishing some of it off.

"Well someone better go find him because we're _not_ handling the clown and his psycho girlfriend without him." Hawkgirl demanded to nods of approval from the others, me included.

"I'm right here." The Dark Knight in question said appearing out of the shadows, "Glad to know I'm needed." You could practically _hear_ his smirk.

"Well now we've got everyone here, let's go!" Clark shouted as he opened the hatch out of the tower. John quickly put a green bubble around Wally and Batman. I laughed to myself as I imagined those two stuck together for the entire flight. The rest of us flew on to Gotham City.

We landed in the middle of town, right next to the obnoxiously large Wayne Enterprises building.

"God look at that thing!" Hawkgirl scoffed, "I bet Bruce Wayne is such a pretentious asshole. He probably doesn't even care about this city."

I could see Clark bite his tongue. It looked like he knew something we didn't. I also could've sworn he stole a glance at Batman, but I don't think it meant anything. He was always glancing over at Batman.

"I can sense that The Joker and Harley Quinn are at Arkham Asylum." J'onn said interrupting the slightly awkward moment.

"Arkham?" Batman questioned, tearing his eyes away from Clark, "but they just escaped from there!"

"Perhaps the police have caught them without our assistance?" J'onn asked, clearly oblivious to the shitty state of Gotham's police force. The entire team burst into laughter.

"We should get over there to see what's going on." Superman said calming us down. We all agreed and made our way to the historic Arkham Asylum, home to the greatest supervillains of all time. Until they inevitably escaped.

When we got there, The Joker was making no effort to hide his presence. He was standing outside of the asylum letting all of the prisoners out.

"Stop right there Joker." Batman shouted. Every prisoner looked up to see Batman hovering in the Bat-Plane. The rest of us were hiding at the bottom of the hill the asylum was built on.

"Ooh Batsy!" The Joker said waving joyfully, "Lovely to see you! I was wondering when you were going to show up. I have missed you so."

I was intrigued by his appearance. He was wearing a neat looking purple suit which was tastefully offset by messy green hair. Then he ran his chalk white hands through that hair, pushing it back. As much as I hated to think it, he looked kind of…sexy. I was so distracted by his appearance that I didn't notice the spandex-clad girl clinging on to his arm. She was holding on so tight I was worried his arm might fall off. With the way he glared at her from the corner of his eye I could tell he was not amused by it.

"Mel come on!" Wally whispered. Everyone else had already charged toward the onslaught of maniacs and I had been transfixed by The Joker. There was no way finding this psychopath attractive was healthy. I followed Wally up the hill. Well I followed a red and yellow streak up the hill.

"Try not to hurt any of them!" Superman shouted over the cacophony. Always the Boy Scout.

"Just try to get them back inside safely!" Batman agreed. I was going to help do just that when a pair of rough, calloused hands covered my mouth with a rag, blindfolded me, and dragged me away.


	2. Chapter 2

When I awoke I expected to be strapped to a chair or something explosive, instead I was laying down on a rather comfortable couch.

"Good morning!" My captor greeted cheerily. I still couldn't see his face. He was standing in the shadows in the corner of the room.

"Morning." I replied groggily. "Might I ask who you are?"

The man came out of the corner and I saw that it was none other than The Joker himself.

"Hello I'm The Joker, though I'm sure you already knew that. And you are?" He was smiling. The smile was both terrifyingly sinister and deliciously inviting.

"Dragonfly." I said shakily. I was desperately trying to hide my attraction to him.

"You're new aren't you?" He whispered after walking over to me. His face was uncomfortably close to mine. Well, it wasn't that uncomfortable. I tried to think about Clark.

I like Clark.

I like Clark.

I like Clark.

I like Clark.

Clark.

Clark.

Clark.

"I said, _you're new aren't you?_" He growled after I didn't answer.

"Yes I'm new." I finally managed to choke out. "But now it's my turn to ask you a question."

His eyebrows raised as if he was surprised I had any questions. He nodded, giving me permission to ask.

"Why me?" I asked, "You're Batman's villain."

"Well you see, I have a cunning plan." He said smiling that smile again, "You're Superman's girlfriend so naturally he'll come to save you and as we all know, wherever the Boy Scout goes Batman follows!"

I couldn't argue with that logic.

"Why not just kidnap Batman?" I asked, acting like I wasn't impressed by his plan even though I kind of was. I needed to keep him talking until Clark and Batman got here. By the way he kept looking at me I needed to keep talking to prevent anything else from happening.

"Because you're just so _enticing_." He whispered in my ear. His breath was hot and I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks.

"Really?" I said clearing my throat so I would sound like my heart wasn't beating so hard it might burst through my chest. His dark green eyes flashed with lust when he saw my blush. He smiled again but this was different from before. This was a triumphant smile, like making me feel this way was all part of some sick plan.

"Oh yes." He said hoarsely. He sat next to me on the couch and put his arm around me. He smelled like a combination of blood, cigarettes and green Jolly Ranchers. It wouldn't work on anyone else, but it fit him perfectly.

"I like new things, and you're new." He continued.

I smiled despite my best efforts not to. He noticed and took the opportunity to lean in as if to kiss me. I was in an intense moment of inner debate when we were interrupted.

"Mistah J!" A high pitched whine called from the next room. The Joker retracted his arm and pinched the bridge of his nose. He stood up from the couch as she walked through the door.

"Not now Harley I'm dealing with a hostage situation." He shouted angrily. It was painfully clear he was in no mood to deal with her.

"She doesn't look like a hostage to me." Harley pouted crossing her arms over her chest. He sighed and walked toward her.

"I deal with hostages my own way." He growled his anger growing more and more apparent.

"But _puddin _you promised you were gonna take me out once we got out of the asylum!" She whined stomping her foot on the floor.

"Plans change." He said flatly trying to calm himself down to no avail.

"But _puddin_!"

If there was going to be a second half of that sentence it was lost to the sound of The Jokers hand hitting her face. Hard. She ran off after that, tears running down her face and ruining her white make up. Then he turned around and smiled with that lustful look in his eyes again.

"Now where were we?" He asked slowly walking towards me.

"No." I said standing up. He stopped dead in his tacks. I almost laughed at that. I finally figured out the secret to defeating The Joker. Just tell him you won't kiss him.

"What?" He said laughing from the shock, "What did you just say to me?"

"No." I repeated firmly. "This isn't going anywhere anymore. Not after the way you treated her." Honestly, I still wanted to kiss him but I would have felt too guilty after seeing him slap Harley across the face like that. It was grotesque.

"You don't dictate how I treat my girlfriend. That's my business." He growled beginning to walk menacingly toward me.

"Well, seeing as you were just about to kiss me, it is my business." I said advancing on him as well. My own courage was surprising. I was challenging The Joker. The most psychotic villain Gotham has ever seen.

"Hmm," He said pausing to think, "Maybe Superman and Batman will come to find a dead Dragonfly."

Before I could even process what he was saying, I felt a cold knife in my abdomen. He twisted it and then pulled it out. The pain was excruciating but I wasn't worried. Didn't I mention I could heal as well as fly? I can talk to animals too, but that's not important right now.

"Nice try Joker but you'll have to try harder than that to kill me." I smirked as the wound closed before his eyes. There wasn't even enough time for blood to soak my iridescent blue uniform. Thank goodness because I had just cleaned it. He looked down at my bloodless stomach and began to laugh. It was a high pitched, maniacal cackle. And I really liked it.

"No one's ever stood up to me before." He said after he had finished laughing, "Normally that would drive me crazy, but with you I like it. You've got guts kid."

"Don't call me kid." I said and pulled his face down to mine. When our lips met it was like nothing I had ever felt before. It was so different from kissing Clark.

Oh God I had completely forgotten about Clark.

"Oh no." I said quickly pulling away and sitting back down on the couch. "No no no no no no no!" I put my head in my hands as The Joker sat down beside me.

"Hey I wasn't that bad was I?" He asked. He seemed genuinely concerned about whether or not I had liked kissing him. Which I had.

"No that's not it. That's not it at all!"

Just as I was getting ready to explain my reason, the reason walked through the door.

"The reason is that." I whispered. Then in a moment of pure genius, The Joker grabbed my hands and pulled them behind my back roughly. The only way I knew it was fake was the wink he gave me.

"Unhand her Joker." Clark growled. I had never seen him so angry.

"Yes sir she's all yours!" The Joker let me go and pushed me toward Superman. He grabbed me tightly and the warmth I felt in his arms made my feelings for The Joker all the more confusing.

"What do you want with her?" Batman asked appearing behind Superman.

"I don't want a damn thing with her." The Joker said playing with my braid.

"Then why take her?" Clark said angrily swatting Jokers hand away.

"Because she's just so pretty!" He answered winking at me again causing my cheeks to turn red, "You're a lucky man Boy Scout."

Clark didn't respond to that. Unless you count holding me tighter as a response.

"Superman take Dragonfly and get out of here." Batman growled

"Oh but we were having such a good time!" The Joker pouted looking directly at me.

"Well the fun's over." Superman said, "Come on Dragonfly."

He pulled me towards the door and I looked back at The Joker. I was trying to convey all of my confusing feelings with just my eyes. I didn't really know how I felt, but I hoped he understood. The last thing I saw before I left was Batman lunge at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Back at The Watchtower, shit hit the fan.

"You were supposed to be covering her Wally!" Superman shouted, pinning him to a wall.

"Put him down!" I yelled attempting to pull Clark's arm from Wally's throat.

"He let you get kidnapped." He said glaring at me.

"I'm sure he has a good excuse." I reasoned, "But if you choke him we'll never know."

He sighed and put Wally down.

"Alright what's your excuse?" Clark muttered, clearly not pleased that I had made him release Wally.

"Well, um, there was a really hot girl." He answered trying to sound ashamed but he clearly wasn't. Before Clark could go crazy on him again I interrupted.

"How hot was she?"

"Really hot." He answered, "An 8 at least"

"Forgiven." I said and high-fived him.

Clark was dumbfounded.

"Melissa can I speak to you for a moment. _Alone._" He said and beckoned me to a secluded corner of The Watchtower. I shrugged at Wally and went to join him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You need to start taking this seriously." He replied, "You could have gotten killed back there."

"You don't think I don't take this seriously?" I scoffed.

"Well you did just get yourself kidnapped."

"Excuse me?" I shouted angrily, "I got _myself_ kidnapped? You act like that's my fault. I didn't walk up to The Joker and asked him to take him to wherever the hell that hide out was. God Clark you're acting like I'm some defenseless puppy that needs your saving. Well in case you've forgotten, I have powers too. I'm not Lois." Then I stormed off.

I knew I had gone too far with the Lois line but he treated me like I can't defend myself. I went over and sat down at the table where Wally and I had our eating contest. The last place where everything was normal.

"Hey." Wally came and sat down next to me. My only response was to glare at him from the corner of my eye. As my best friend he should know when I want to be left alone.

"Come on Mel give me a smile." He said and poked me in the ribs. This asshole knows where all my ticklish spots are. I couldn't hold back my smile. So I punched him in the shoulder.

"Just because you made me laugh doesn't mean I'm not still mad. I'm not ready to forgive Clark." I said seriously.

"I wasn't trying to get you forgive him." He said putting his arm around me, "He was being a total jerk. I was just trying to make you feel better."

I smiled and layed my head on his shoulder. This little bit of normalcy was really comforting after the craziness of the day. I eventually fell asleep there. It had been a really long day.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up late the next day. Wally had apparently carried me to my makeshift apartment in The Watchtower. Everyone had one for when they were on monitoring duty and had to stay the night. I actually lived in mine since I really didn't feel like staying with my parents in Central City and had nowhere near enough money for a place of my own. I then realized I was still in my uniform, mask and all. Leave it to Wally to fuck up being sweet. I changed into my spare uniform and walked out into the main room.

"Good morning all." I said.

J'onn, John, Hawkgirl, Wally and Clark were all sitting around the table talking. When they saw me they all became dead silent and stared at Clark. I saw Wally elbow him. Then he got up and walked toward me.

"What do you want?" I grumbled, my good mood ruined.

"I wanted to apologize." He said taking both my hands in his, "I was a huge jerk last night. I only acted like that because I care too much about you to see you get hurt."

He punctuated the statement with a slow, passionate kiss. Kissing Clark always felt like coming home.

"I love you." He whispered as he pulled away.

Oh no.

That did not just happen. We had only been together for 3 months. I was in no way ready for a step like that. Especially after what happened last night. I stepped away and looked up at him nervously.

He looked back at me like I had just punched him in the face.

I glanced at my friends, then back at Clark.

Then I ran. I ran right out of The Watchtower.

Not surprisingly I went to Gotham City. I flew over to Arkham and looked at the foreboding grey building. I wondered if The Joker was in there. Had he beaten Batman? It was a possibility seeing as Batman hadn't been at The Watchtower this morning. I was sitting up against the grassy hill Arkham was situated on. I pulled my knees to my chest and stared up at the cloudless blue sky. I started thinking about the first time I saw The Joker. He looked so powerful. He had been standing there in total command of all those people. There were hundreds of prisoners inside of Arkham and they were all listening to him. I thought about the way it felt when we kissed. With him it felt like fireworks going off. It was so new and exciting. So different from Clark. But I didn't _not_ like Clark. Did I love him? Maybe.

My inner monologue was cut short by screams coming from the center of town. As a member of The Justice League I couldn't very well leave those screams unanswered. I got up quickly and flew in the direction of the noise.

Turns out the noise was coming from the steps of City Hall.

"Unless I get the Bat, our dear commissioner gets the works!" The Joker shouted through a megaphone. Can't I go one day without seeing him?

"The works" were apparently a large collection of bombs. They were strapped onto the chest of an older man who I could only assume was the commissioner.

"You tell 'em puddin!" Harley squealed playfully swatting The Joker. When he looked over at her it was with genuine affection. He then leaned over and kissed her. There was an unwanted pang of jealousy in my stomach.

"So where are you Batman?" The Joker resumed. I decided that I'd had enough and since our dear Dark Knight was nowhere to be found, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"What about me?" I shouted from my hovering position above the crowd. I landed and walked through a parting in the sea of people.

"Hello Dragonfly." He said calmly. Though his voice was steady, I could tell he was nervous. I was probably the last person he expected to see fighting crime in Gotham.

"Let the commissioner go Joker." I said through gritted teeth.

"I said I would!" He said laughing, "If I get Batman."

"You don't get a choice." I growled advancing on him.

"Ooh a little feisty today aren't we?" He laughed as I walked up the steps. When I reached him he winked at me and it only fueled the anger coursing through me.

"You have no idea." I said as I punched him.

"You're stronger than you look Dragonfly." He said nursing his jaw.

"Just shut up and let him go."

"I think I'll pass on that sweetheart." He whispered caressing my cheek. I hit his hand away.

"Let him go Joker."

This time the voice was not mine, but Batman's. It took him long enough. I mean this is his city. If I could hear the screams from Arkham he should have been able to hear them from wherever he lives. But that's none of my business. What the Bat does in his spare time is his alone.

"Ooh Mistah J look it's Batman!" Harley squealed jumping up and down.

"Yes I know I'm right here." He replied clearly annoyed.

"Let Gordon go." Batman growled.

"Hmmm…" The Joker said pondering the proposition, "No."

The man in the chair, who I now know is named Gordon, seemed even more frightened than before. Batman leaned over and whispered something to me.

"You take Harley. I'll get The Joker."

"What you think I can't take him?" I whispered back, watching the clown through the corner of my eye.

"To be honest," he replied, "no."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Well then I would just have to prove him wrong. I sauntered up to The Joker and punched him again. This time the force caused him to move back a few steps. Batman pushed me away.

"I said handle Harley." He said through gritted teeth.

"_You _handle Harley!" I yelled shoving him towards her. He was too stunned to do anything else so I returned my attention to The Joker.

"Aww you're fighting over me!" He crooned.

"No." I said, "I'm fighting _with _you."

He laughed at that and I took the opportunity to pin him against the stone wall. He started laughing again and to shut him up I banged his head against the wall.

"Get your hands off him!" Harley shouted. She ran over and tried to pull me off. So I elbowed her in the stomach. And even though I had just elbowed his girlfriend pretty hard, The Joker smiled at me.

"I missed you." He breathed into my ear.

I kneed him in the balls.

Then without a word to Batman, I flew off.


	5. Chapter 5

The rational thing to do would have been to leave Gotham. Go back to The Watchtower and have lunch with Wally, or maybe watch a cheesy movie. But I wasn't feeling very rational right then. I went right back to Arkham. I needed somewhere calm to collect my thoughts. These past two days had easily been the craziest of my life, and Wally and I did some crazy stuff when we were younger. Seeing The Joker again had awoken all the feelings I desperately wanted to suppress. That's probably why I was so hard on him. I was angry he was making me feel this way.

"Oh God," I thought to myself, "There's no way anything is ever going to happen between us after today. I kneed him in the balls. I'm a terrible person."

I was busy listing all the ways I had royally screwed up so I didn't notice a tall, slightly bloody figure sit beside me.

"I thought I might find you here." The figure said. I knew that voice. It was The Joker. After getting over my initial shock I began to be worried about his current state.

"Oh my God what happened?" I asked wishing I had something to clean up the mess. The downside to a tight leather uniform is the lack of pockets.

"Have you forgotten so soon?" He questioned smirking. Oh right. _I _happened. I put my head in my hands in shame. I looked over at him to apologize but stopped myself. He looked somehow different. This was not the Clown Prince of Crime. This was the man who had been worried about whether or not I had enjoyed kissing him. But the clown wasn't gone. He was still in there. The Joker was as much a part of him as this other man. Perhaps more so, which would explain the rarity of seeing it.

"How'd you escape Batman?" I asked, still transfixed by this new part of him.

"He got distracted by Harley." He said chuckling at something. I raised an eyebrow at him, shocked that she was more than arm candy. "She kissed him."

Then I started laughing too and for a fleeting moment we felt like a normal couple just laughing at some joke.

"I'm surprised you were ok with that." I said, "You seem like you would be very protective of what's yours."

"Oh I am." He replied seriously, "I'm just not sure I consider her mine."

This was by far the most confusing thing to come out of his mouth.

"She seemed to be very much yours earlier." I grumbled remembering the way he had kissed her at City Hall. He didn't say anything for a while.

"Harley and I have a very complicated relationship." He finally responded.

"You seemed to really like kissing her." I muttered. The jealousy I had felt began to resurface. All I could think about was the way he smiled when he pulled away and how it was the exact same look he had given me.

"Not as much as I enjoyed kissing you." He whispered doing just that and then taking my hand. Sitting like this felt so weirdly normal. It made me a little uncomfortable. Being normal with The Joker seemed wrong. But how could I say it was wrong with the way his skin felt against mine?

"Why me?" I mused staring at the slowly darkening sky.

"Well we're very similar when you think about it." He said scooting closer to me, "We're both stuck in relationships we don't want. I could tell you were disappointed when Superman came to your rescue."

He wasn't completely wrong. I wanted to try and explain my complicated feelings for both men but I decided to keep quiet. I didn't want to ruin this perfect moment with talk of my boyfriend. I put my head on his shoulder as the sun was beginning to go down. The awkwardness of doing something normal with The Joker was gone and I began to really enjoy the moment.

"I should be getting back." I said reluctantly, "The team will be wondering where I am."

He nodded sadly, muttering something about Harley being worried and got up. He offered his hand to help me to my feet but I just smirked and got up without his assistance. He smiled a new smile this time. It was pride. He was proud that he had me in his life. I pulled him down for one last kiss and flew away.

Back to The Watchtower.


	6. Chapter 6

"Where the hell have you been?" Clark demanded the second I was in sight.

"I was in Gotham." I said smiling. This time I was determined not to let him ruin my good mood.

"And what were you doing there?" He said forcefully grabbing my arm as I tried to go to my room.

"I was helping Batman." I replied yanking my arm away. I looked down and saw a large red mark, though it faded quickly thanks to my healing powers. On any normal person that would have bruised almost immediately.

"Melissa…" He whispered, clearly ashamed.

"Forget it Clark." I said walking calmly back to my room.

"Jesus Christ man what's wrong with you?" I heard Wally shout as I closed the door.

Not long after there was a knock on my door.

"Go away." I grumbled tearing my mask off and putting it on the bedside table. The door opened anyway. At least it was Wally and not Clark.

"What's going on with you and the Boy Scout lately?" He asked sitting cross-legged on the bed. It reminded me of the late nights spent at each other's houses just talking. Once we stayed up until 4 am just discussing life, the universe, and everything.

"He's the one acting different, not me." I said scooting back to give him more room.

"Mel I've known you almost our entire lives. I think I can tell when you're acting weird. Spoiler alert, you are."

The worst part was that I knew he was right. I was acting weird. Before The Joker I would never run out of The Watchtower like that. Before him everyone knows I would have said "I love you" to Clark.

"It started yesterday." He said as I layed my head in his lap, "What happened?"

Wally was easily my best friend in the whole world. I trusted him with my life .Knowing someone for 21 years gives you a pretty firm sense of trust. I knew I could tell him anything and everything but was I ready to admit my complicated feeling for The Joker?

"I don't know." I responded after a while.

"Yes you do." He said easily seeing through my lie. Probably the only downside to my relationship with Wally is that he can always tell when I'm lying, "But I can tell that you're not ready to tell me. Night Mel."

He got up and I moved my head to accommodate that. As he walked out the door he turned around and blew me a kiss so logically I threw a pillow at him. I got up to get the pillow and change when there was another knock on my door.

"Wally I thought you were gonna leave me alone!" I groaned.

"It's not Wally." Clark said sadly, "Please let me in Melissa."

"Fine." I said reluctantly, "Just let me change."

He agreed to that and I quickly took off the tight leather costume and put on some sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt.

I opened the door to find Clark standing with a box of cupcakes from my favorite bakery back home in Central City.

"How did you know?" I gasped eyeing the box hungrily.

"I'm your boyfriend, I'm supposed to know these things." He smiled and handed it to me. I lost my appetite at the word "boyfriend". After what had just happened combined with him trying to choke my best friend I wasn't so sure I wanted that to be the case anymore. I took the box and placed it on my bedside table.

"About this morning." He began, "I shouldn't have said that. I should have known you weren't ready for that step. Bad timing on my part."

He thinks I'm still mad about that? I got over that not long after it happened, what I wasn't over was the way he was so protective of me he was willing to give his fellow team mate and my best friend in the world in a near death experience. As I was thinking of that, my hand absent-mindedly went to the place where he had grabbed my arm. The physical pain was long gone but the emotional pain was still very fresh.

"I'm so sorry about that." Clark said brushing the spot with his thumb.

"It's fine really." I said, "Healing powers remember?"

"That doesn't make it fine." He whispered, "I was way out of line."

Yeah no kidding.

He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This isn't working is it?"

"No," I agreed quietly, "It's not."

"We've both changed." He said, "You're not the same girl who flew to the Eiffel Tower with me on a Tuesday night because she'd never been to France. And I'm not the same man. But I'll always love her and I hope you'll remember him."

And with a chaste kiss on the forehead, he was gone. I felt tears come to my eyes. Not because of the break-up, that was a relief to be honest. I cried because change terrified me and it seemed to be happening to me rather quickly. I layed in my bed and cried myself to sleep.

I dreamed of The Joker.


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm quitting."

"Mel no!" Wally got up and ran over to me. He seemed to be the only one who actually cared. Everyone else just stood up and slowly walked over to me looking mildly sad.

"I don't fit in here." I said nervously pulling on my braid. No one disagreed with me. Even Wally didn't protest. They all knew it was true. "I just need to go home for a while, clear my head."

They all nodded understandingly at that. I'm sure they all thought it was because of Clark but I was long over that. This was about The Joker. I needed to get away from him. Away from the way he made me feel.

"Thank you all for being so understanding."

I smiled at them and turned to go and pack my things. There wasn't much in my small room. I had only been there for 2 months so it's not like I had time to accumulate much. It took me about 15 minutes to get everything together. Then I made my bed and walked out into the hallway. To my surprise Batman was waiting for me there.

"Let me take you home." He said.

I was really tired and flying all the way to Central City sounded less than appealing. Also I had never been in the Bat-Plane before and it seemed fun.

"Let me just say good-bye to everyone first."

He agreed to that and walked with me to the main room. Wally looked up and saw me with my suitcase and the box of cupcakes. He ran over to me.

"Are those cupcakes from Crumbs? How did you even get those?" He gasped, his eyes widening. I smiled sadly and handed the box to him.

"You take them. I'm going home so I'll get to have Crumbs whenever I want, you won't."

As I handed him the box he pulled down his cowl and looked at me with tears in his eyes.

"When we were kids we always said we were gonna work together and go home and have sleep overs everyday remember?" He said sadly. I did remember. We had such big plans when we were little. He told me I was going to be in the League and he would be my sidekick. Then he became Barry's sidekick. Dreams change.

"Wally this isn't good-bye!" I said trying to cheer him up, "You act like I'm dying! Just because we won't be seeing each other every day doesn't mean we're gonna stop being friends. It's not like we haven't been apart before."

He nodded and smiled. Our friendship had survived a lot, we could make it through this. I hugged him tight.

"Come visit soon ok?" I whispered as I pulled away. He nodded and clapped me on the back. Then I went and hugged everyone else. We had never been all that close but we had saved each other's lives plenty of times. I wouldn't even be here if not for these people. And above all that, we were a team. I still cared for them. Batman was starting to get impatient so I gave them all one final wave and went with him to the Bat-Plane.


	8. Chapter 8

"I know your secret." Batman growled as soon as we got in the air.

"What do you mean?" I stammered nervously.

"Don't pull that bullshit on me. I found you when you were 'kidnapped' by The Joker." He said laughing sarcastically, "I've been fighting with The Joker for a quite a while, it didn't take me long to find him."

"Then why didn't you bust the door down when you saw me kiss him?" I asked not caring to spare any details. He'd already seen everything.

"Because unlike you, I actually care about Clark's feelings." He replied angrily, "He deserves so much better than a cheating bitch like you."

We flew in silence after that. I didn't much feel like making conversation with someone who had just called me a bitch and he didn't want to talk to the person who had cheated on his best friend. When we landed I got out as quickly as possible.

"You're lucky I care enough not to tell Clark." He said not making eye contact with me, "I can't imagine what an angry Kryptonian would do to the girl who broke his heart. But remember, this is not for you. I could not give less of a shit about you. This is for him."

And then he was off.

I then began the short walk from the meadow where we landed to Central City. It felt really good to be back. Since I was in street clothes, I decided to just walk to my house. I hadn't been home in 6 months. I spent 3 on internship at the Daily Planet in Metropolis, and the next 3 with the League. Through everything I had very minimal contact with my family so I was beyond excited to see them. On the way, I stopped at Crumbs to pick up a Danish. I would have bought more than one to share with my family but they wouldn't have made it home anyway. The bakery was really close to my house so I shoved the pastry in my mouth to destroy the evidence.

When I reached my childhood home I was flooded with memories. I saw young Wally and me playing hide and seek around the yard. I saw my little sister take her first steps. I saw my first boyfriend give me an awkward good-bye kiss on the front stoop. I loved this house. I walked up the cobblestone sidewalk. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. My dad opened the door.

"Melissa?" He whispered.

I smiled wider than I had in a long time. Despite his advanced age he picked me up and spun me around.

"Nicholas what is going on?" My mother said walking out, "Oh my God Melissa!" She squealed and pulled me away from my dad.

"Come inside, come inside!" She said breathlessly.

I came in and sat on the huge brown leather couch in the living room.

"We've missed you so much!" My mom said sitting on one of the matching armchairs in front of the sofa.

"Of course we do, but why are you back?" Dad said sitting down on the other chair. Seeing them like that made me feel safe. They always sat in those two chairs even if the couch was completely empty, "You were doing good work over there."

"Well," I mumbled awkwardly, "Clark and I broke up and I just needed to come home and clear my head."

"Oh honey I'm so sorry!" My mom said sadly. I sighed and told them the whole story. Well not the _whole_ story. I left out the part about The Joker. My mother came over and joined me on the couch, putting her arm around me comfortingly. Then my parents took turns telling their worst break up stories. It was fun hearing about their past.

"Where's Kitty?" I asked inquiring after my 17 year old sister.

"She's at dance practice. It ended about 15 minutes ago so she should be home pretty soon." My dad said checking his watch.

Besides Wally, my sister Katherine was my best friend. Despite being 8 years apart we'd always been close. I was almost more excited to see her than our parents. Right on cue, the door opened.

"Hey kiddo." I said smiling as she walked in. Her jaw dropped and she flung her dance bag across the room. She ran towards me and I stood up to hug her.

"What are you doing here?" She shouted excitedly. I sat her down and told her everything I had told my parents. She listened sympathetically and hugged me again at the end.

"Enough about me." I said, "Mom when's dinner going to be ready?"

"Pretty soon sweetie." She replied laughing.

It was great to be home.


End file.
